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Should I get Office 2004 or stick with Appleworks

K

kjwebb

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 19, 2003
101
0
Australia
Hi everyone.

I am getting an iBook G4 12" soon (the AppleCentre says it will be in by the middle of this week) and am wondering should I stick with Appleworks or buy Office 2004 Student and Teacher edition (as I am a student)?

I will be using the iBook for shell scripting, word processing and may need to use it for presentations.

And don't bother suggesting keynote as it is not much cheaper than Office 2004.

Also, I am not looking into OpenOffice.org as it doesn't have native OS X support yet, only X11 support.
 
I personally do not do transfers of windows files from pc to mac to pc, so I really do not see the point of getting the office mac. The applescript is a great replacement that fits my needs as a student. It may be different for you. The applescript is a GREAT replacement for word and all those windows programs if that is your issue; that applescript is not somehow inferior if that is your concern. Also, if you buy the mac off and your a student, check your student store since they may have a microsolf discount (my school has it for 75 vs. 125 at Amazon; same exact thing).
 
Go for office. Word is far superior to Apple Works. Plus, you'll have a lot easier time transfering documents between yourself and friends that don't use a Mac. I use Office X right now, and was thinking about upgrading to 2004 because I think that note taking feature would help when I take notes on my iBook. But for your purposes, I think you should definately go with Office.
 
you didn't mention spreadsheets, so if you don't need excel you have a good chance to avoid buying the ms office. word is not so great word processor, so the question you have to ask yourself is "am i doing any word processing appleworks is not capable of, and if i am, is the word any better on the task?"

if you absolutely don't HAVE TO use word & excel, you have no reason to buy the ms office. if you want to make presentations, you'd be better off with apple keynote.
 
JFreak - He said he didn't want keynote. I think that MS Office will suit him just fine.

I'd probably buy appleworks for my own, but for school I'd get MSOffice incase you do documents on a PC or that.
 
I'm as loyal a Mac-head as the next man, but my version of Office 2004 is arriving in the post in the next two days. I found AW too clumsy and not versatile enough for my needs, so perhaps I want more from the app than you do. But at the student price, it's an absolute bargain.
 
Like I said before get MS Office, but here's the thing on it
For windows the Student Version is $300, Professional Version is $500 and standard is $400. Microsoft is trying to take over the Mac market by letting the price be about $150 for student edition. Makes me mad, but what can ya do.
 
Hate to disagree, but...

slooksterPSV said:
Like I said before get MS Office, but here's the thing on it
For windows the Student Version is $300, Professional Version is $500 and standard is $400. Microsoft is trying to take over the Mac market by letting the price be about $150 for student edition. Makes me mad, but what can ya do.
Click to expand...

The Windows version of Office XP for students and teachers can usually be had for between $109 and $120 from Fry's - www.outpost.com - Office 2004 hasn't been released for Windows yet as far as I know.

Check their prices daily because, like all of these companies, they play games with them and you, their customer, in order to get you into their store.
 
slooksterPSV said:
He said he didn't want keynote. I think that MS Office will suit him just fine.
Click to expand...

he stated that he didn't like the price tag of keynote, but i reminded him about the fact that maybe the keynote / powerpoint is all he is looking for in the office suite, and if he indeed doesn't need excel and can live without word, then, actually, keynote is a better deal than powerpoint.

ms office is "just fine" in one point of view: compatibility with the pc world. that's the #1 reason why i have it (the v.X version), not the features the software has. well, i actually use excel, but powerpoint & word are installed purely for the compatibility's sake.

i still recommend the keynote, if excel is not needed. excel is THE app in ms office.
 
Get office.

Most of the world uses word and excel. As a student you will probably encounter it heaps. Its pretty good and Office 2004 has some nice new features.
 
If you need to email an essay or lab report to a professor who wants it sent to him via email, I'd trust Office. Office is great. I need Office. I've tried the alternatives, and its no contest which is better. I can't write a proper math equation easily in OpenOffice for Windows, and I assume OpenOffice for Mac is similar.

I don't know what X11 is. That's how much I know about computers. :rolleyes:
 
Okay, I should have been more clear in my first post.

Anyway, if I want to submit work, I will be doing it either by using Office 2003 on my PC or Office 2000 on the computers at Tech. (I go to the Canberra Insitute of Technology (ie. it's a TAFE College. I don't know what the American's call them)).



FYI. I have decided to get Keynote after thinking about the price a bit more. It's only around AU$104 with my student discount compared to AU$299 for Office 2004: Student and Teacher Editiion.

Thanks for your views everyone.
 
Get Office... Office 2004 is a very nice app... Especially when you consider the price of the student & teacher version... It's simple:
Word is better than Appleworks
Powerpoint is better than Keynote
Excel is better than Appleworks' spreadsheet capabilities

Office is more compatible w/ the rest of the world ( though Appleworks is nearly as compatible-though every now & again a problem does crop up)

Honestly, I hate M$ as much as anyone, but not enough to cut my nose off to spite my face.. Appleworks doesn't compare to Office, imho...
 
jemeinc said:
Get Office... Office 2004 is a very nice app... Especially when you consider the price of the student & teacher version... It's simple:
Word is better than Appleworks
Powerpoint is better than Keynote
Excel is better than Appleworks' spreadsheet capabilities

Office is more compatible w/ the rest of the world ( though Appleworks is nearly as compatible-though every now & again a problem does crop up)

Honestly, I hate M$ as much as anyone, but not enough to cut my nose off to spite my face.. Appleworks doesn't compare to Office, imho...
Click to expand...

Okay, someone didn't read my last post well enough.

If I need to do the more advanced features that are in Word, Excel and Powerpoint, I will use my PC (with Office 2004) or a PC at Tech. (Office 2000).

And another twist to this story. My parents want me to try OpenOffice.org for Mac OS 10 when I get my Mac before they buy Keynote to see if it can open powerpoint files the way I want (which I already know that OOo can't do what I want).
 
AppleWorks sucks. Office rocks. You could save some money and buy the older and supposedly faster Offce vX. If you want, but I don't really believe the benchmarks on www.barefeats.com.

The reason I wouldn't get AppleWorks is because it hasn't received a major update for some time now--as far how it looks. The current version of AppleWorks looks the same as it did in Mac OS 9 (Classic).
 
I got Office 2004 Student Teacher Edition the other day and it's awesome. I would highly recommend it. I've always loved Word, Excel and Powerpoint and there are some really neat new features in the 2004 version that are really helpful.

Appleworks is not worth it. It is far overdue for an update and lets face it, most people use Office anyway. I know Appleworks is compatible with Office documents, but theres nothing like the real thing.

Best wishes,
JOD8FY
 
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